Stage collapse With Vid

mward69 · #1 08-14-2011, 11:36 AM

If a Dup...sry...

For those of you that work as a rigger/stage hand/lighting ect...you never know when this will happen....Got a friend on tour with Sugarland..he was not hurt, but lost a rigging friend.

Indiana State Fair Stage Collapse - YouTube

carlos840 · #2 08-14-2011, 11:46 AM

Man, this is bad!

Bo_H · #3 08-14-2011, 11:50 AM

I had just heard about this a few minutes ago from another site and watched the video you linked to. Not good, not good at all.

Four people killed, was it? Very sad. Thoughts for their families all around.

i_got_a_mohawk · #4 08-14-2011, 11:59 AM

Wow, thats horrible

metallicafan18 · #5 08-14-2011, 12:05 PM

The death toll is now up to 5. Sad day.

mward69 · #6 08-14-2011, 12:15 PM

Already hearing rumors of Sugerlands Org. getting blamed for it??!! ***?
SEVERAL thing's fail here....
*Festival promoter or Stage mngr. SHOULD have had rigger's LOWER the roof. I have worked one outdoor gig when major storm came through, was lowed the roof to help cover gear, AND prevent collapse

*Didn't seem to have ANY support cables on the truss the roof rides on. Maybe a rigging overlook...?

Either way, Don't blame the band and their Org. But...I guess someone will have to pay though...guess in a lawsuit the Lawyers will go after who has the most $$$

Longhair · #7 08-14-2011, 12:19 PM

The first thing I thought when I heard of this happening is "Why weren't there more support cables?"

BogeyBass · #8 08-14-2011, 12:38 PM

woah! that was bad

That was some pretty high wind,
how do you keep this from happening?
A height restriction?

do you need a permit for these things, or does alot of these rigging adventures get built with no regulation.

Im sure its not a easy job and would never want to damper a industry, but my god people cant just die if a rig is poorly engineered.

Skitch it! · #9 08-14-2011, 01:00 PM

A sad sight indeed

mward69 · #10 08-14-2011, 01:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BogeyBass

woah! that was bad

That was some pretty high wind,
how do you keep this from happening?
A height restriction?

do you need a permit for these things, or does alot of these rigging adventures get built with no regulation.

Im sure its not a easy job and would never want to damper a industry, but my god people cant just die if a rig is poorly engineered.

I have NEVER seen ANY inspectors on a set in my 15 yrs of doing this line of work. Depending on the size of the setup, USUALLY the 4 truss that the roof rides on are supported with cable. There are 4 motors that pull the roof truss up..I guess any type a failure can happen, we have all seen at least 4 or so in the last 5 or so yrs. truss falling or total collapse.
Every rigger I have worked with is VERY safety aware, some are union and go through serious training. I'm not sure a inspector could have foreseen this type of accident. I think it was Communication failure. SOMEONE should have been told to lower it {roof} NOT saying it would have stopped it, but lowering it would have brought the weight to a lower point and the winds MIGHT not have caused it to fail.
There is going to be A LOT of blame and finger pointing going on, Promoters, Riggers, Crew, Local Crew, Sugarland....God...you name it. It's sad for the family's, and the Greedy azz lawyers are going to sue EVERYONE.

sandmangeck · #11 08-14-2011, 01:47 PM

there were 50 mph winds that came through out of nowhere. if you look at the pics, half the sky is blue/half black.
I agree it should have been more enforced.

BogeyBass · #12 08-14-2011, 02:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mward69

NOT saying it would have stopped it, but lowering it would have brought the weight to a lower point and the winds MIGHT not have caused it to fail.

I use to build large pole signs, and once you get over 25ft in height. The amount of BS you have to go threw to get a permit is rather time consuming.
The drawings have to be approved and stamped by 2 independent engineers. And the big reason is wind force. once you get past 25ft. even the most heavy duty base can fail, and changes have to be made to account for it.

so if anything goes wrong like a big old sign falling, I assure you no engineer in the world will risk his butt, and way before he stamps that drawing everything, i mean everthing gets looked over. And if one guy misses it, that is why there is 2 stamps required.

metallicafan18 · #13 08-14-2011, 02:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sandmangeck

there were 50 mph winds that came through out of nowhere. if you look at the pics, half the sky is blue/half black.
I agree it should have been more enforced.

Same down here.I storm came through and was in and out in 15 minutes. It went blue sky, to pitch black, and back to blue. The wind was insane here. They clocked it at 70 mph. There are trees down everywhere, and the first day of school was supposed to be tomorrow for most schools and now it is cancelled.

Jay Ralston · #14 08-14-2011, 02:29 PM

What a sad thing to happen. LeAnn Rimes played our fair last night and I was up front by the stage. The staging was also done very poorly on it too and not even a week ago we had 93 mph winds with golf ball size hail blow through our town.

My thought and prayers go out to everyone and their loved ones who were involved with this tragedy. Hopefully something will change where maybe certain standards and inspections can be mandated.

tastybasslines · #15 08-14-2011, 02:33 PM

wow, chilling

GregC · #16 08-14-2011, 02:40 PM

I watched this late last night, so awful.

I have zero expertise with rigging, but I hope the industry can do something to make these setups more safe (or improve communication). Until then, I'm going to avoid being right up front at these types of shows.

tastybasslines · #17 08-14-2011, 04:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GregC

I watched this late last night, so awful.

I have zero expertise with rigging, but I hope the industry can do something to make these setups more safe (or improve communication). Until then, I'm going to avoid being right up front at these types of shows.

After the rash of tornado's, a safety expert said that bolts in your foundation with simple straps over the roof in multiple directions would have prevented a lot of homes being lost. Why not put straps over a stage? Seems easy enough, and if that free standing stage got blown like in this case, it would likely stay in the same spot.

LiquidMidnight · #18 08-14-2011, 07:26 PM

Wow, it was tough to watch that.

lowfreq33 · #19 08-14-2011, 08:03 PM

Friend of mine was there, playing fiddle with one of the opening bands, so I'm just thankful he wasn't on the stage when it collapsed.

jaywa · #20 08-15-2011, 10:52 AM

This should not have happened. 60 to 70 mph winds, while extreme, should not topple a structure like a house of cards unless there was a significant failure in how the structure was designed and/or assembled.

In reading about this on another chat board, someone raised the very astute question of whether this stage was designed specifically for outdoor use, or instead was an indoor stage setup that had simply been erected outdoors. A bandmate of mine said this stage looks almost identical to one he had seen at an indoor show so if that's the case, the person(s) who decided to utilize this stage outside its intended environment are as much at fault as anybody else.